Evergrey – The Atlantic Across Europe Tour (Antwerp, Bochum, Nuremberg, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin)

I can't remember when exactly I heard about Evergrey for the first time. They are of course not a new band, they've been around for more than 20 years. What I do remember is that Floor Jansen did a song with them in 2016 on their album The Storm Within and called Evergrey her favourite …

Behemoth, At The Gates, Wolves In The Throne Room -Ecclesia Diabolica Evropa (Batschkapp Frankfurt, Turbinenhalle Oberhausen, Große Freiheit 36 Hamburg)

Another year, another great package of bands touring together. When the news reached me last summer that Behemoth had announced a European tour, I thought I might go to the gig in my hometown. When I discovered later that besides Behemoth also At The Gates and Wolves In The Throne Room were on the bill …

My Top 9 albums of 2018

How many times can you possibly listen to the same album over and over again? 2018 was an amazing year for new music. My three most favourite bands released new music, I basically had no choice but to put them in the top 3 spots on the list. But even apart from those, there were …

Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls – Be More Kind Tour (Sporthalle, Hamburg)

"Because there's no such thing as rock stars, they're just people who play music..." In spring 2011 I went to see Social Distortion at the last of four gigs in a row they played at the Docks club in Hamburg. Nothing memorable about their show for me... I enjoyed it I think. The support act …

Demonical, LIK, Of Fire – Carnage Manifesto Tour (Bambi Galore, Hamburg)

Billstedt, in the east of Hamburg. You couldn't be further away from the many hotspots of nightlife and live music this city is famous for. Billstedt is rather famous for concrete block buildings that house all kinds of social problems - and for the shopping center that has the only Primark of the city. But, …

Sinsaenum – Repulsion For Humanity Tour (Knust Hamburg)

Sometimes you might feel out of place at a concert because you don't know the main act everyone else is excited for, for example when you came for the support act or when a friend brought you along. When I went to see Sinsaenum, it was the other way round: I felt out of place …

Ghost – A Pale Tour Named Death (Royal Albert Hall, London)

Asked about festival shows in interviews, 'the man behind the mask' of Ghost often says that they should only be considered a trailer for the real headline shows. And even though some of the festival sets I've seen from Ghost are very close to my heart (actually I consider for example the Tuska 2016 or …

Wacken Open Air 2018

"Wacken? Never ever again!!!" That's what I said after I had been to Wacken for the first time last year, because I totally hated it for various reasons (that you can read about here). I stuck to my resolution through every amazing band announcement... until they announced Ghost. I'm weak when it comes to Ghost, …

Gojira – Wacken Open Air / Into The Grave 2018

Gojira are probably one of the festival bands of this decade. If you've been to metal festivals over the last few years, you will probably have seen them at some point, because they have played a lot! Me, I have seen them at least six times now, and only one of them was not a …

Summer with Ghost (Prince Charles Club Berlin, Graspop Metal Meeting, Copenhell, Dynamo Metal Fest, Wacken Open Air)

It was a long wait for the new Ghost album. Well, actually it was only eight months between the end of the Meliora touring cycle and the release of the new album Prequelle, and there was even the live album Ceremony & Devotion in between, but if you're addicted to a band, eight months are …